Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1027 Return ([-])

"What, you actually want the land near the Gerard Mountains?" Young Louis was a little surprised. He watched Mo San use his thick fingers behind a row of mountains drawn with pens, and asked immediately.

"To be precise, it is all the land within a distance of thirty leagues to the north of the Gerard Mountains." Mo San corrected him and said, "Please don't be surprised, you really don't have any interests in this land. Recife is such a rich land, if you expect us not to intervene, then you have to be prepared for hemorrhage. Young people, things in the world are not that simple, don’t think everything is too easy.”

"But both Recife and the Gerard Mountains are the legal territory of our country. Your country's doing so is against morality and the laws of the world." Louis said weakly.

"Oh? Young man, do you really think that the Gerard Mountains are also your country's territory?" Mo San restrained his smile, looked at Louis with a serious face, and said, "Please go back and carefully read everything about the Pope's meridian, according to your country's According to the agreement signed with the Spaniards, the Gerard Mountains are definitely not the legal territory of your country, but the territory of the Kingdom of Spain. If it is the territory of the Kingdom of Spain, then according to the "Valladolid Peace Treaty" of 1648, this area Who owns the mountains and the land around them, I think the facts are pretty clear."

Louis was a little speechless.He wanted to say that the Pope's Meridian was just an agreement between Spain and Portugal on dividing up the world, but it didn't mean that both countries really abided by it, because that would be too stupid.But the problem is that until a moment ago, I was still plausibly discussing the law with the pagans on the east coast. Didn’t Envoy Mo use the law to fight back against me?

The Portuguese are untenable in law, but what about the reality?Then there is no game!People on the east coast are not weak little sheep. According to the information passed back by the Almeida family, they can easily mobilize tens of thousands of militiamen who have received military training across the country (the number of times these people have fired live ammunition even exceeds that of many European countries. army), and then flooded the whole of southern Brazil like a tidal wave.Although Louis had some doubts about this, he really didn't dare to try whether the people on the east coast had such a strong mobilization ability, and it was not up to him to decide.

"Young man, I can see that your country is not yet fully prepared to discuss territorial ownership with us. But it doesn't matter, we can wait, our consistent policy is to 'shelve disputes and seek common ground while reserving differences'. About Rela Of course, we can shelve the issue of the ownership of the Alpine Mountains for the time being, and we can discuss it later when the opportunity is right. Of course, correspondingly, our country should also respect the property of the Dutch West India Company in Brazil and the land it has acquired. Regarding your country’s Brazilian colonization We deeply regret the war that broke out between the authorities and the Dutch West India Company, and we sincerely hope that the two sides can sit down to negotiate and finally determine the ownership of this land, rather than through the barbaric and violent way of war." San talked to Louis, a young boy, and didn't feel that the country on the east coast was the one that liked to start wars the most.

Louis felt a little tight in his chest. This young man who is only 17 years old and the heir to the Earl of Mallor family was completely driven by Mo San, and his face was not as thick as when he took power many years later, so he was speechless at this moment , I don't know what to say.Besides, neither His Majesty João nor Queen Gusmão gave him much power. The king was too ill to govern, the queen had no intention of governing, and the veteran nobles were leading the army. The whole of Portugal was indeed as Mo San said, " Not ready to discuss any important matters with him”, Mo San came to Lisbon at an inappropriate time, which doomed his trip to be fruitless.

"Take care of your own troubles first, Portuguese." Mo San stretched out his right hand, looked at Louis and said, "I plan to leave here soon, I'm sorry, Earl Major, I didn't reach any beneficial things with you, This must have disappointed you. So, before you leave, aren't you going to talk to me about other things? For example, trade between the two countries and so on. You know, our East Coast Republic of China is best at producing all kinds of cheap and high-quality products goods such as textiles, leather goods, steel bars, metal utensils, weapons, etc. I really think you should seriously consider industrial products from the east coast, and not just limit your eyes to England, France, Italy and Germany... "

"No, thank you." The young count shook his head lightly. The trade of the Kingdom of Portugal has been monopolized by the nobles, and they often have long-term cooperative relationships with foreign suppliers. It is conceivable how difficult this slightly closed market is.Louis didn't want to get into this trouble, because it was unnecessary, not to mention that he was young and energetic, and he was not interested in acting as a comprador for a yellow-skinned pagan.

"It's such a pity." Mo San finally shook Louis' hand, then gently pulled it out, and said goodbye: "I hope we can meet again, young count. I will stay in Lisbon for another day, waiting for the ship Leave immediately after resupply, if you have any questions during this period - you can come to me. Oh, by the way, our ships have not entered the inner port, so we don't need to pay entry customs duties?"

This time, Mo San once returned to the mainland of the east coast with a total of seven ships, four of which were merchant ships of the South China Sea Transportation Company, and one was a Danish merchant ship hired by Zheng Yong through the De Haier family. "Rising to fame" (of course it's not a good reputation), it is becoming more and more difficult to hire ships in Europe, a merchant ship from the Principality of Courland, and a 400-ton sail escort gunship from the First Fleet of the Navy .

The seven ships assembled near Tethel, the outer port of Amsterdam, and then formed up to the port of Orient in the New World.The things on board are very miscellaneous, including copper, lead, tin and other minerals, livestock, immigrants, daily necessities, and of course some luxury goods and agricultural products.These goods are basically shipped to the mainland on the east coast, and it is impossible to sell them in Portugal. Therefore, it would be too stupid to pay the entry tariff again, so Mo San asked this question.

"No, no need." Louis replied without hesitation, "As long as it doesn't enter the mouth of the Tejo River, it's fine. Foreign ships can enter and exit freely in the outer port, supply, and repair without paying any customs duties, only some negligible port entry fees."

"Very good, then, goodbye, Louis." After saying this, Mo San took a last look at the young nobleman, then turned and left the office.

On February 2, the seven ships sailed out of the berths one by one, and after completing their marshalling in the open sea, they sailed to the vicinity of the Canary Islands.They will complete the turn near the islands controlled by the Spaniards, follow the trade winds and ocean currents, sail to the waters of the Lesser Antilles in the southern Caribbean Sea, and then look for opportunities to complete supplies there—of course, if the situation does not permit, they will give up When they landed, they could afford the voyage of only 27 to 30 days. Their Dutch counterparts could even sail for six months without disembarking. The British could also stay on board for three to four months, a voyage of more than 20 days. It's a trivial matter for the sailors, but it will hurt the few immigrants on board.

The Lesser Antilles is still one of the most active places for pirates, so every batch of merchant ships on the east coast must have a guard equipped with 24 artillery pieces (including multiple 18-pound long-barreled heavy artillery pieces) Gunboat escort, otherwise, wouldn't it be a disaster if caught by those pirates?

On March 1654, 3, the entire fleet arrived at the island of Tobago under the control of the Dutch. After obtaining key supplies, the fleet took advantage of the good weather to turn south again, heading for the next destination, Recife, Brazil. port.The fleet encountered several merchant ships on the east coast of the Ottoman Empire at the Port of Recife. Mo San learned that these merchant ships would stay in St. Augustine, a Spanish colony of Florida, for about half a month, waiting for a ship that was heading to the mouth of the Mississippi River on the way. , the ship was going to trade with the Indians.And it was at this time that Mo San knew for the first time that the local people decided to civilize the Indian tribes such as the Mobiles, the Choctaws, and the Natchezs. Why not do it if it creates a problem for the British?

In early May 1654, the fleet encountered a sudden bad weather, and an east coast merchant ship that had been leaking since leaving Recife sank unfortunately.Fortunately, other ships converged one after another after sailing out of the area with bad sea conditions. After several days of searching for the missing merchant ship on the east coast to no avail, the remaining six ships continued to form a formation and sailed to the not-too-distant East China Republic Offshore, and finally arrived at its capital, Oriental Port, on May 5.

Mo San went directly to the administrative building of the Executive Committee to report on the same day, and met some old friends who had been away for many years.Everyone was also very happy with Mo San's return. Xu Xin, who is temporarily in charge of foreign affairs, even joked: "It's about to enter the early winter, and Mo San is back, so he just resigned and rushed to the Jiaohe area for development, so that after the spring of next year, he can Organize local new immigrants to carry out spring plowing and sowing.

Now that Xu Xin is about to step down, some of the work at hand will be gradually handed over to Mo San, such as the land mortgage loan agreement that has been negotiated intermittently with Baron Raul Bravo of the Kingdom of Spain, such as the package deal with the Dutch West India Company Cooperation agreements, such as low-interest loan assistance to the Principality of Courland, and a series of diplomatic spats with the Portuguese and Brazilian colonial authorities. Easy.

On May 5, Xu Xin, who had completed the initial delivery of the affairs at hand, went home to rest for a few days, and then took up his post, went to Jiaohe Fort, and took up the post of the newly established Jiaohe District Commissioner.

Continue to recommend book friend Liang Xiangjian's colleague "Looking West: From the East Coast to China", the book is at the starting point, and it is very well written.

(End of this chapter)